Archive for category Galen Sterling-Smith

One of the things that concerns me is how my actions will impact my children when April and I have them. As a child I watched my parents and in many ways decided to do things different than them. In so many more ways I am the person I am because I watched and emulated the things they did, especially taking on their kind and giving nature.

I know it means a lot for you to have been able to be a part of your brother’s life and I think even more so for him to have had you there. We never know who is listening and who is watching so we should always be the person we know in our heart, we should be.

Thank you Galen for reminding me of how my actions impact even strangers. I appreciate the time and effort you put into guest posting.

There are several people who have expressed interest in guest posting for me and for December 4, 2010 the guest blogger will be Seth Winternight. If you are interested in guesting (yeah, I know but it’s a word now), just send me an email or go to the Guest link above and leave your information and I will get back to you.

Welcome Galen Sterling-Smith, to Morning Erection as the November guest blogger. Galen’s blog gives Advice You Don’t Want To Hear But Need to, form a Christian perspective. I’ve enjoyed reading his posts and I’m sure you will to but first things first, his guest post! As always, Galen’s guest post here means he has taken time away from his own blog and spent time thinking of this great post for us. It is a great honor for me to be able to have a guest blogger so as a favor to me please show Galen the courtesy of leaving lots of comments and be sure to visit his site as well. Thanks.

I am amazed at the person my little brother has become. He’s 15 years old and 11 years my junior. He grew up in a different house than I did due to the fact that we share a father but not mothers. He grew up in a two parent household, I grew up in a 1.5 parent household. This is no slight to my stepfather who is an awesome man, but nothing replaces the presence of the man who is literally half of who you are.

I’d see my brother only in summers and on holidays when he was younger and I enjoyed our brief times together; knowing full well they weren’t long enough and constantly fearing that he wouldn’t know anything about me or who I was.

Then in college I moved in with my dad to save money and was able to see my brother a lot more often.

Every Sunday I’d head out to church by myself, sometimes taking my brother along with me just for kicks – or so I thought. As he grew up, I’d say he had a basic understanding of God and faith, but I wasn’t sure how strong or solid it was.

A few years later (I’m not sure how old he was, but he was older, lol) he’d make his decision about faith and it really surprised me what motivated him to make his choice.

It was, in part, me…

The reason this surprised me was for all the reasons listed above–I didn’t see him that often and I didn’t think he was really paying all that much attention to me. The reason I thought this was because I didn’t think very much of myself. I didn’t think I was worth listening to or being paid attention to. However, my brother saw something of value in me. My brother used me as a model for the kind of person he wanted to be.

Lately, people have been asking me for advice or commentary on my marriage and relationship with my wife. Some are surprised at “how good a husband [I am].” Really, I’m surprised that they’re surprised because, again, I don’t feel like I’m doing anything worth mentioning or paying attention to. I just do what I do because I feel it’s the right thing to do.

However, this brings up my point–I think what I’m doing is no big deal, but to somebody else, it is. This really puts into perspective the idea of watching your character and actions because you NEVER know who is watching you.

I imagine parents would know what I’m talking about. Children are mimics at an early age. They learn how to function in the world by watching the people around them. Their good and bad habits are not always nature but their nurturing as well.

Whenever you’re a person of any kind of example, in my case an older brother and a Christian, I have to keep in mind that someone may be watching me at all times. This creates a bit of pressure to keep doing what’s right within the realm of my moral upbringing. I don’t have the opportunity or luxury of going against what I claim to stand for even for a second, because I don’t know who’s following in my example or waiting for me to mess up…

This helps me to stay on the straight and narrow because every time I’ve thought about straying from the path, someone, somewhere, somehow pops up and reminds me that there are eyes on me always.

So ask yourself, who’s watching you?

KVGess

*November 7, 2010 tomorrow morning at 2:00 am Daylight Savings Time ends and you should turn your clocks back one hour. Yes, you gain an hour of sleep.